No organized work for woman suffrage had been done in Tennessee up to 1885, when Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon was appointed president of the State by the National Association. In 1886 she removed to Washington Territory and Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether was made her successor. As the best means of obtaining a hearing from people who would not attend a suffrage meeting, Mrs. Meriwether decided to begin her work in the ranks of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. After three years of quiet effort in this organization (of which she was State president) she succeeded in adding the "franchise" to its departments and having a solid suffrage plank nailed into its platform by unanimous vote. In May, 1889, she formed in Memphis the first local suffrage club, with a membership of fifty.

In January, 1895, Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, came to Memphis and were welcomed not only by the suffrage society, but also by the Local Council of Women, the Woman's Club and the Nineteenth Century Club. They addressed a fine audience in the Young Men's Hebrew Association Hall.

The following June Mrs. Meriwether was employed by the National Association to lecture and organize for two weeks, and visited the most important towns in the State.

In May, 1897, Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama made a six weeks' lecture and organizing tour under the auspices of the association, during which she spoke in every available town of any size, Mrs. Nellie E. Bergen acting as advance agent. No other organizing work ever has been done in Tennessee.

The first State suffrage convention was held at Nashville in May, 1897, an association formed and Mrs. Meriwether unanimously elected president. This was in fact an interstate convention, being held during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at the invitation of the managing committee, who offered the suffragists the use of the Woman's Building for three days to give reasons for the faith that was in them. Delegates were present from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Illinois. Addresses were given by Miss Laura Clay and Mrs. Lida Calvert Obenchain of Kentucky, Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton and Miss Griffin of Alabama, Miss Josephine E. Locke of Illinois, Mrs. Flora C. Huntington and Mrs. Meriwether.

The second convention took place at Memphis, April 22, 1900, Mrs. Chapman Catt and Miss Mary G. Hay, national organizer, in attendance. Mrs. Meriwether was elected honorary president for life; Mrs. Elise M. Selden was made president and Miss Margaret E. Henry, corresponding secretary. On Sunday evening Mrs. Chapman Catt addressed a mass meeting in the Grand Opera House, and the next evening spoke in the audience hall of the Nineteenth Century Club, both given free of charge.

One incident will further show the growth of public sentiment in this direction. In 1895 a prominent Memphis woman sent to the Arena an article entitled The Attitude of Southern Women on the Suffrage Question, which she claimed to be that of uncompromising opposition. In conclusion she said: "The views presented have been strengthened by opinions from women all over the South, from the Atlantic Coast to Texas, from the Ohio to the Gulf. More than one hundred of the home-makers, the teachers and the writers have been consulted, all of them recognized in their own communities for earnestness and ability. Of these, only thirteen declared themselves outright for woman suffrage; four believed that women should vote upon property and school questions; while nine declined to express themselves. All the others were opposed to woman suffrage in any form." She then gave short extracts from the letters of eighteen women, four in favor and fourteen opposed.

The editor wrote to Mrs. Josephine K. Henry of Kentucky asking for an article from the other side. She sent one entitled The New Woman of the New South, and the two were published in the Arena of February, 1895. Mrs. Henry gave extracts from the letters of seventy-two prominent women in various parts of the South—all uncompromising suffragists. She had written to Mrs. Meriwether that, as her opponent was from Tennessee, she wanted a distinct voice from that State, and requested her to give a few reasons for desiring the suffrage and obtain the signatures of women to the same. Mrs. Meriwether supplied the following:

We, the undersigned women of Tennessee, do and should want the ballot because—

1. Being 21 years old, we object to being classed with minors.

2. Born in America and loyal to her institutions, we protest against being made perpetual aliens.

3. Costing the treasuries of our counties nothing, we protest against acknowledging the male pauper as our political superior.

4. Being obedient to law, we protest against the statute which classes us with the convict and makes the pardoned criminal our political superior.

5. Being sane, we object to being classed with the lunatic.

6. Possessing an average amount of intelligence, we protest against legal classification with the idiot.

7. We taxpayers claim the right to representation.

8. We married women want to own our clothes.

9. We married breadwinners want to own our earnings.

10. We mothers want an equal partnership in our children.

11. We educated women want the power to offset the illiterate vote of our State.

Mrs. Meriwether sent this "confession of faith" to the presidents of every suffrage club and W. C. T. U. in Tennessee, giving them a fortnight to obtain signatures and adding, "The King's business requires haste." In two weeks it was returned with the names of 535 women, while several presidents wrote: "If you could only give us two weeks more we could double the number."[436]

Legislative Actions and Laws: Dower and curtesy both obtain. The widow receives one-third of the real estate, unless there are neither descendants nor heirs-at-law, when she takes it all in fee-simple. Of the personal property she takes a child's share, unless there are no lineal descendants, when she takes it all. The widower is entitled to a life interest in the wife's real estate, if there has been issue born alive, and to all of her personal estate whether there are children or not. The law provides that a homestead to the value of $1,000 shall inure to the widow.

The wife can neither sue nor be sued nor make contracts in her own name, unless the husband has deserted her or is insane. The husband is entitled to her earnings and savings.

Meigs' Digest says: "The general principle of the law is that marriage amounts to an absolute gift to the husband of all personal goods of which the wife is actually or beneficially possessed at the time, or which come to her during coverture. So that if it be money in her pocket or personal property in the hands of a third party, the title vests at once in the husband.

"By right of his marriage the husband takes an interest in his wife's real estate, and during their joint lives the law gives him a right to the crops, profits and products of her lands. He has the usufruct of all her freehold estate. The husband is entitled to the profits of all lands held by the wife for her life, or for the life of another.

"When a marriage is dissolved at the suit of the husband, and the defendant is owner in her own right of lands, his right to and interest therein and to the rents and profits of the same, shall not be taken away or impaired, but the same shall remain to him as though the marriage had continued. And he shall also be entitled to her personal estate, in possession or in action, and may sue for and recover the same in his own name.

"When the wife is forced to separate from her husband, by reason of cruel and inhuman treatment from him, she may, by a bill in equity, have a suitable provision made for her support, out of the rents and profits of her land."

The code says: "A father, whether under the age of twenty-one years, or of full age, may by deed executed in his lifetime or by last will and testament in writing, from time to time and in such manner and form as he thinks fit, dispose of the custody and tuition of any legitimate child under the age of twenty-one years and unmarried, whether born at the time of his death or afterwards, during the minority of such child, or for a less time." If the father abandon the family the mother becomes guardian, but she can not appoint one by will.

No law requires the husband to support wife or children.

The legal age for marriage is fourteen years for boys and twelve for girls.

By earnest pleading and continual petitioning during the past ten years women have secured the following: 1. The passage of a bill making women eligible as superintendents of county schools. 2. Police matrons in two cities—Memphis and Knoxville. 3. A law raising the "age of protection" for girls from 10 to 16 years (1893), but if over 12 the crime is only a misdemeanor. The penalty is, if under 12, "death by hanging, or, in the discretion of the jury, imprisonment in the penitentiary for life or for a period not less than ten years;" if over 12, "imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three months nor more than ten years; provided no conviction shall be had on the unsupported testimony of the female ... or if the female is a bawd, lewd or kept female." (1895.)

Suffrage: Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding: Women are not eligible to any elective office except that of county superintendent of schools, which was provided for by special statute about 1890. They can not serve as school trustees.

For a number of years all the librarians and engrossing clerks of both Senate and House have been women. They can not act as notaries public.

Occupations: Women have engaged in the practice of law, but this was forbidden by a recent decision of the Supreme Court (1901). It was based on the ground that an attorney is a public officer, and as women are not legally entitled to hold public office they can not practice law.

Education: Degrees in law have been conferred upon several women at Vanderbilt University, for white students, and at Fiske University, for colored. All institutions of learning, except a few of a sectarian nature, are coeducational.

In the public schools there are 5,019 men and 4,195 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men (estimated) is $31.88; of the women, $26.18.